We’ve covered the issue of the long wait for a driving test before (here and here) and it has often made for grim reading.

While some progress had been made by the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) such as creating nearly 150,000 new slots, the AA Driving School has revealed that waiting times remain a serious problem based on a successful freedom of information (FOI) request made to the agency.

Growing problem

Worryingly, the FOI data reveals that wait times have actually been increasing month-on-month in 2024.

For instance, the average waiting time at the beginning of February was 14.8 weeks. This has slowly grown each month to 17.8 weeks by the beginning of May, representing a 20% increase.

The AA Driving School’s data analysis also reveals that the number of test centres that make learners wait 24 weeks (or more) has shot up by 33% – bear in mind that 24 weeks is the maximum number of weeks that can be recorded by the DVSA system – with only a fifth of test centres experiencing a reduction.

Worryingly, 93% of test centres have waiting times that are still worse than the six-week average before the pandemic kicked off.

Lockdown impact

However, it should be restated that the lockdowns and restrictions triggered by Covid led to 850,000 tests being cancelled.

To combat such a huge volume of cancellations, the DVSA has been rolling out a wide range of countermeasures to try and get back on track. For instance, the agency has brought in examiners from areas with low waiting times to test centres requiring additional support.

The DVSA has also recruited new driving examiners, invited retired examiners to return to work and carried out tests on public holidays and weekends, plus other measures.

Long recovery

However, according to the AA Driving School’s research, it’s clear that, despite its best efforts to combat the aftershocks of the pandemic, the DVSA still has a mountain to climb.

It’s also clear that the AA Driving School’s managing director, Camilla Benitz, has lost patience with the situation, stating that “enough is enough. The additional test slots the DVSA added to the system between October and March have made no difference to the average waiting time learners up and down the country are facing."

Action demanded

Benitz is calling for more action to be taken to resolve the outstanding issue as “being able to drive is not a luxury – for many people it is an absolute necessity to get them to work, education and employment”.

To address the issue, the AA Driving School is calling for a renewed commitment from the agency to increase the number of test slots available while doing more to recruit and retain additional examiners. Time will tell if the calls are heard.

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